Arrow: Out of Darkness
by S. S. Lessardo
Summary: Oliver Queen is dead. But his vision and dream is not. While the rest of his team and loved ones are left behind, an unlikely savior is coming forth to bring new hope to Team Arrow. And the hope that goodbyes are never forever.
1. Left Behind

The following story is my take on what I think the next episode of CW's Arrow should or could be.  
>I have done all I can to not let spoilers and speculation influence my writing.<br>I named the episode the same as the actual title.  
>It is my first attempt at fanfiction in nearly 10 years.<br>It is not perfect (Especially the grammer and writing style.)  
>It is meant for you to read and visualize in a way that it flows like a television show but without the boring writing styles of a script.<br>I describe some things, but expect you, the reader, to fill in the rest.  
>It is truly theater of the mind.<br>Finally, this is a birthday gift to my own sister.  
>A pro fanfiction writer.<br>To her I say: MAYDAY!  
>And enjoy:<p>

Arrow: Left Behind

Right now, there is a man laying crushed and broken on the edge of a cliff.

All around him lays a desolate world of darkness and cold. Bitter cold, and swirling snow. He feels nothing, he knows nothing. Well, no, he knows one thing: bitter, crushing, endless darkness.  
>Moments ago...<br>You can see him now, lifelessly falling inch by bloody inch to his final resting place.  
>The crash of his lifeless body disrupts the peaceful and pure snow that was destined to lie untouched by sinful man for eternity, until this moment where it was stained with the blood of an innocent man.<br>Put to death defending his own flesh and blood.  
>CRASH.<br>He lands.  
>NOW.<br>Oliver Queen, breathes his last breath.  
>In the distace, we can see another soul. This one alive, bright, healthy.<br>The snow and dark blocks out any ability to recognize this person. Yet, we see it is a person.  
>This person is struggling to stand in this bitter wind and cold. Yet, he, or even she, has locked on to their target: the lifeless body of the innocent man.<br>The man, seemingly left behind by justice. Is he alive? That is the concern of this person trying with all their might to reach him.  
>This person is dressed head to toe in thick black material. We see this person is wearing a hood, and some kind of necklace or amulet. It flickers a faint green.<br>Not too far now! The wind whips this figure's clothes and we see boots. Black as darkest night.  
>Just a little bit further, yet they feel the urgency in every passing second. The individual under the dark hood has a fleeting wish, an urgent desire to have the speed of light so he or she can get to the fallen man in a flash, or blink of an eye. Yet, the wind, cold, snow, pushes back.<br>Every step like the journey of a thousand miles... But... Finally... The person makes it.  
>Bending over, he or she removes a glove off their left hand and places their bare, white, palm over the fallen man's neck, seeking a pulse.<br>Suddenly, this person wraps their hands around the object hanging from their neck. It is a vial of some kind, shimmering (slightly) green in color.  
>The person in black unscrews the top with one hand while brushing the fast accumlating snow off the chest of the fallen man, and pours the shimering liquid (is it liquid? Who can tell?) onto the crimson wound that would end his life.<br>Then, this person in black quickly, in one smooth motion, gets their hands beneath Oliver's body and flips him over thier back.  
>It was hard enough pushing against the wind to get to the fallen man, let alone now carry him into the dark. Where will they go? Only One knows.<br>Now begins the one step at a time journey to... well, time will tell.

-ARROW-

Location: Starling City.  
>Just before sundown.<br>It is an unseasonably warm day at the close of the year.  
>Laurel Lance finds herself once again at the SCPD headquarters. She is visiting her father, Quintin.<br>She wants to talk to him about something.  
>Something devestating. Yet she can't. Why? He isn't well. He is too fragile, she thinks. Yet... Yet every day she doesn't tell him is another missed opportunity. And that isn't fair.<br>Actually, she just wanted to pay him a visit and say hi.  
>That sick feeling fills her again, the one that keeps her awake at night.<br>He sees her, and she immediately places an empty smile on her face. He hasn't ever questioned that smile, thankfully.  
>He returns a smile, and asks, "any idea what a 'Yellow Blur' is?"<br>This catches her mind off guard and she flinches.  
>Quintin laughs, "Don't worry about it, it's my problem. Are you okay?"<br>"Um, yeah. I was in the area and thought I'd see how you are? Are you busy?"  
>"Yes. But for you, I can change that."<br>She feels some relief that once again, she doesn't have to tell him.  
>"Let's do dinner?"<br>"Sure, but tomorrow? I'm not kidding when I say that our department is litterally on the lookout for a Yellow Blur..."  
>"Well, I don't know what that is, but yes, tomorrow... Dad? I just wanted to say... I'm thinking of you."<br>He hugs her, says, "Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow?"  
>She nods, he moves on.<br>Then the guilt hits again...  
>Why do I do this to myself? She wonders.<br>She takes the fastest route out of the building she knows of: the same one she remembers from as far back as a little girl.  
>The back door.<br>The one that should have an alarm if you open it but it kinda doesn't because it is super old.  
>It is the same one that leads to the back ally.<br>The same one that can lead to trouble.  
>Like it always does.<br>Like it does tonight.  
>Like it does right now.<br>The chill in the air turns her breath to white.  
>Suddenly, Laurel doesn't feel alone.<br>All around her, figures appear.  
>One. Two. Three? No, four AND five.<br>Stay calm, she thinks as she sets her back foot and plants her front...  
>The figure in front of her holds its hand up, signally to the others to stand down.<br>Then the same hand grabs the hood to reveal the familiar face of Nyssa Raatko. Or, Nyssa al Ghul... or Laurel's sister's beloved.  
>Laurel: "Are you trying to scare me to death? What is this about?"<br>Nyssa is holding something, a few somethings. She motions to the person to her left, and he pulls down his hood. It is Maseo, now known as Sarab.  
>Sarab says: "We come with news reguarding Ta-er al-Sahfer."<br>Laurel: "What news?"  
>Laurel knows that it is regaurding her sister's murderer. But how could this happen behind her back?<br>"What about Sara?"  
>Nyssa: "Her murderer was delivered to us and he was brought to justice. By my father. It is custom that we return the belongings of those who are brought to justice to the ones who loved them."<br>Laurel wonders how she would be involved in this. How is it she would be any help to the League in this situation?  
>Nyssa sees this, says, "You don't know?"<br>Laurel: "Know what?"  
>Maseo, now known as Sarab, says, "Oliver Queen is dead."<br>Laurel steps back, "Nyssa? What is this?"  
>"Oliver murdered your sister."<br>"No! Of course he didn't!"  
>Nyssa cuts her off, "He confessed to my father. I am sorry. He asked for 'Trial by Combat'. He lost. The League no longer will have any dealings with Starling City. Please, take these belongings of Mr. Queen's and lay them to rest..."<br>Nyssa hands the bundle to Laurel then turns, as if to hide her emotions.  
>Laurel is overwhelmed and takes the bundle, in her hands it weighs so much more than it really does.<br>"I... No... Please..." Laurel says, tears filling her eyes.  
>The figures around her raise their hoods and begin their retreat.<br>Laurel looks down at what is in her hands and can't bear the news, she falls to her knees sobbing.  
>*2*<br>Felicity Smoak nervously scans news articles, not even sure what she is looking for. Maybe just a distraction.  
>Star Labs attacked.<br>"Anything?"  
>Roy Harper. More nuisence than friend right now.<br>"No!"  
>"Sorry..."<br>John Diggle enters the scene, more a voice of reason than anything.  
>"Let's not assume no news is bad news, okay? It"<br>"I know, it's just... hard... not knowing."  
>Diggle is trying to be the one that is composed here. Trying, yet seeing the faces of those around him.<br>Faces that cry of defeat. Fear. Dread.  
>"Listen," he says, firm, "we need to trust Oliver, and trust that he..."<br>He trails off because someone unexpected enters the stairway of the headquarters of Team Arrow.  
>It is Laurel Lance.<br>Not so unexpected except the look on her face.  
>And the objects in her hand.<br>Felicity sees it first and connect the dots.  
>They are Oliver's clothes, and bag... The one's he had with him when he told her he...<br>"No... No... please..."  
>Diggle and Roy are spared the truth for a few more moments, yet are shaken by the sight of Flecity break down.<br>Laurel can't hold back any longer, tears stream down her face, yet maybe for another reason.  
>"One of you better explain to me why Oliver is dead! And why he has died as my sister's murderer?"<br>Roy grabs Felicity, who cannot now hold her own weight.  
>Diggle heads toward Laurel.<br>Laurel drops Oliver's belongings.  
>"Laurel... Don't believe it for a second," he starts.<br>Laurel looks into his eyes and says, "I don't. I know he loved her and would never harm her. I deserve... No, my family! Deserves! To know the truth."  
>Roy has now taken Felicity out of the room, it is just Diggle and Laurel.<br>Diggle takes her hand and says, "Yes, you do deserve the truth. Oliver turned himself in, as the murderer of your sister. But it wasn't true. It was to protect someone else. Someone he loved..."  
>"John, Oliver is dead. Who would he die to protect?"<br>Diggle is caught off guard. Not by the question, but by the fact that Oliver is dead.  
>"John?"<br>Diggle refocuses his thought: "Oliver didn't kill your sister. It was Thea."  
>Silence.<br>Laurel: "She... no she. She couldn't-"  
>"Laurel, listen to me: Oliver learned that Thea was drugged by Malcolm Merlyn. It's a special drug."<br>Laurel is beginning to lose focus due to anger.  
>"It is true. Oliver saw the evidence. Merlyn owed a blood debt to Ra's al Ghul. If you give me more time I can explain this to you better-"<br>"No!"  
>"Laurel! Listen!" Diggle takes her hand, "Merlyn knew that if he used Thea to blackmail Oliver, Oliver would do whatever it takes to protect his sister. Even as far as taking the blame for your sister's death."<br>She rips her hand forcefully from his.  
>"You're telling me," she says, "that you knew who was truly responsible for my sister's death, and let Oliver go and die in his place?"<br>"It's not that simple."  
>"Yes it is! Why would you let him do this? There had to be another way."<br>"There wasn't."  
>Laurel couldn't, at that moment, contain herself anymore, and she became something else. She shoves Diggle and he crashes hard into a side table. He yells in agony as she pushes forcibly by him and toward the exit.<br>She says, "don't get in my way."  
>*3*<br>The snow is almost too much, piling on in great drifts along the cliffside.  
>You see two figures, one carrying the other. Step after step...<br>The carrier stumbles and falls, dropping the lifeless body to the ground. The person in black groans, a deep groan that reveals itself to belong to a man.  
>He get's up, keeping his hood tight to keep the snow off his face as he picks Oliver back up and over the shoulder.<br>*4*  
>Diggle limps back into the main room, holding his side a bit, trying to catch his breath.<br>Roy is coming down the stairs, head hanging low. Tired.  
>"Felicity okay?" Diggle asks.<br>Roy looks up, rubs the back of his neck.  
>"No, but she will be. She's resting in the lounge. Can you take her home?"<br>"Sure. But what about you?"  
>"I'm going to tell Thea."<br>"Tell her what?" Diggle begins to frown.  
>"She needs to know her brother died, Dig. It's not right to keep her in the dark."<br>"And what are you going to tell her? That he died in a motorcyle accident? He fell off a cliff? He blew up in buidling? She's going to want all the details and not to mention closure."  
>"I plan on telling her the truth."<br>"You're going to tell her that she murdered someone while drugged-"  
>"No, not yet. I'm going to tell her that... That..."<br>"Oliver wouldn't want her to know like that."  
>"Fine. But she needs to know he is gone."<br>Diggle looks away, he knows he is right. They part without further words.

-Break-

Thea Queen is in her apartment, it is night.  
>She is delicately removing the breakable ornaments off the Christmas tree and into their crates.<br>She pauses over the matching snowman ornaments, one that says THEA the other that says OLIVER. She smiles, and just as she removes them from their stems there is a knock on the door.  
>She peeks through the peephole in the door.<br>When she sees who it is, she sighs.  
>She swings the door open and it is Roy.<br>"I have no idea why you're here right now. Unless you're looking for my brother-"  
>She notices the look on his face and that he isn't there to joke around.<br>"Can I come in? It's important."  
>"Um. Okay. What is it?"<br>As he walks in, he motions for the couch and says, "You need to sit down."  
>"Now you're kind of freaking me out," she replies. In the background through the tall windows out side, niether of them notice a black silky strand, almost like a drape, fall gracefully and flow in the wind.<br>Roy touches Thea's shoulder, tries to look her in the eye.  
>"It's about your brother," Roy says.<br>Suddenly behind them, in one liquid and graceful swoop a dark figure glides down on the drape.  
>An arm extends and places a small round device onto the window.<br>Roy quickly puts his body in front of Thea, anticipating an explosion.  
>What happens next, almost makes him wish it was.<br>An unspeakably loud, piercing, blinding squeel so high, all the windows in Thea's apartment shatter.  
>Roy, disorientated by the sound, falls to his knees next to Thea, who also is down.<br>The figure enters apartment.  
>It is a woman, dressed all in black. Blonde hair pass her shoulders. A black mask covering most of her face.<br>She pulls out a dagger.  
>Roy tries to shake off the ringing in his ears. He can see that Thea is still in agony.<br>They can barely hear the woman as she speaks loudly (through a voice modifier) "I am here for Thea Queen."  
>"Yea? Well you'll have to take me too."<br>Roy lunges forward.  
>The woman moves to the left and Roy easily misses her, and when he is in front of her she quickly draws out two small weapon batons.<br>She elbows Roy in the throat, winding him, and strikes him in the back of the neck with one of the batons.  
>Roy is out cold.<br>The sound ends.  
>By now, Thea has regained some control of herself.<br>She stands watching.  
>The woman in the mask turns toward her. In her digitized scrambled voice she says to Thea, "Do what I say and this will be easy for you."<br>Thea considers using some of the moves her father taught her. But knowing they may do her no good in this situation, she hangs her head signalling submission.  
>*5*<br>John Diggle.  
>He just dropped Felicity off at her apartment.<br>He walked her up. She didn't say a word. She closed the door on him. Didn't say a word.  
>On his way down the stairs, passing a sharp looking dark haired man.<br>No words exchanged.  
>Now he sits in silence as he drives through Starling City.<br>For the first time he feels he can let go.  
>And he cries.<br>He sobs.  
>His phone rings.<br>He won't answer it until the fifth ring.  
>"Yea, Roy?"<br>"Diggle I lost her."  
>"What?"<br>"Thea. Someone broke in, took me out and when I woke up she was gone."  
>Diggle slams the breaks.<br>"I'm on my way to get you."  
>"Diggle. You won't believe who it was."<br>"The kidnapper? You get a look at him?"  
>"Her. It was The Canary."<br>*6*  
>Thea agreed to be blindfolded and hands bound.<br>After they climbed a series of stairs, they finally got to level ground.  
>Canary removes Thea's blindfold and motions her to sit in a chair on rollers in the middle of a room.<br>"Who are you?"  
>Canary doesn't answer. She keeps her face in the dark.<br>Using the voice scrambler, she says, "Thea, I don't plan on harming you. This is about someone else."  
>"Who?"<br>"Your father."  
>"My father is dead."<br>"No. Merlyn."  
>Thea stays quiet. She is surprised this person knows who her real father is. The instinct to cover for him kicks in heavy.<br>"Malcolm Merlyn? How should I know?"  
>"Because you're covering for him. Reguardless of he is to you, he is a murderer. He killed hundreds of innocent people."<br>"I told you... My father is dead."  
>"You and I both know that is a lie. Stop protecting him. He will take everything from you. You have no idea what he is capable of, do you? You are completely brainwashed!"<br>"Who the hell do you think you are?"  
>"Malcolm Merlyn added another to his death toll. Oliver Queen..."<br>Thea's heart drops.  
>*7*<br>Diggle opens the door to Oliver and Thea's apartment.  
>"Roy?"<br>Roy comes out of the shadows, holding the round device that shattered the windows (and his eardrums), "look familiar?"  
>"Sara is dead, Roy. And her tools are locked up."<br>"I'm guesses that locker is empty. This has to be Laurel."  
>Diggle shakes his head yes, "I knew she was going to do something stupid, but I didn't think this."<br>"We need to figure out what to do."  
>"Roy, Laurel has known Thea for years. She won't hurt her."<br>"Like hell she won't. Do you see what she did to this place? She trashed it. Her target was Thea and she wiped the floor with me."  
>Diggle: "Come on, let's head back."<br>*8*  
>"My brother is fine," Thea.<br>"Is he? Do you know where he is?"  
>No answer.<br>"And do you know where your father is?" Canary.  
>"I told you, my father is-"<br>"A MURDERER!"  
>Canary takes out the dagger and puts it near Thea's eyes.<br>*9*  
>Felicity Smoak lays limp on her couch.<br>She can't stop a series of flashbacks of her own.  
>The first time she saw him.<br>The first time she touched him.  
>The first time he said I love you-<br>There is a knock on her door.  
>And another.<br>"Felicity?" It's Ray Palmer.  
>Felicity whispers to herself "please go away."<br>Ray gives up rather quickly.  
>He straightens his tie.<br>But he knows something is wrong.  
>And he will get to the bottom of it.<br>*10*  
>Back at Team Arrow headquarters, Roy and Diggle start brainstorming.<br>"Where could she have taken her?" Diggle.  
>"Do you know how to run this face recognizing thing?"<br>Diggle settles in behind Felicity's computer.  
>"I can probably figure it out. Maybe. But Laurel is trying to hide out she's gonna hide out-"<br>His phone rings.  
>He looks at the screen.<br>It says "Laurel Lance."  
>He answers on speaker phone.<br>"Laurel? Please tell me you're not doing what I think you're doing."  
>"Cat's out of the bag I guess. Come get her. She's behind Verdant."<br>Laurel hangs up.  
>Roy heads toward the door.<br>*11*  
>-THE GLADES-<br>A plain white cargo van slowly rolls down a service road behind a cluster of abandoned buildings.  
>The driver, an unsupecting man in his thirties, puts the shift in park.<br>He is alone.  
>No he isn't.<br>The back doors of the van slowly open and two more men step out into the dark.  
>One is carrying a duffel bag, it doesn't seem too heavy.<br>We get a closer look at the man not carrying anything.  
>He seems young, but weathered. Short buzz cut, dark hair.<br>Solid. Imposing.  
>He is wearing dark clothes with a long trench coat. He seems to be the one in charge, based on the way he carries himself and the way the others seem to be holding him at a distance. As if they're afraid of him.<br>"Sir, Jay's ready," says the driver after looking over the one carrying the duffel bag.  
>Jay has shaggy hair under a hat. He seems thing yet his clothes are much too large.<br>Almost padded in a laughable way.  
>The Leader comes over and places a hand on Jay's cheek, standing eye to eye.<br>"You're doing a brave thing, young man. For the Glades. But for this city especially. You're mother would be proud."  
>Jay nods, not saying anything.<br>The Leader reaches into the van and pulls out a small medium sized wooden crate.  
>He reaches in, and pulls out two plain red building bricks (one in each hand.)<br>He begins slowly loading Jay's duffel bag with bricks.  
>*12*<br>Roy finds Thea behind the club, she is wearing a hood and her hands are tied behind her back.  
>She is kneeling.<br>Roy fills with anger. How could Laurel do this?  
>"Thea," he takes the hood off her.<br>Tears are streaming down her cheeks, her eyes are distant.  
>She seems to not even notice he is there.<br>Roy slowly peels the tape away from Thea's mouth.  
>"Thea? Are you ok?"<br>"Is she telling the truth? Ollie?"  
>Roy looks down shaking his head.<br>Thea sobs.  
>He holds her tight.<br>*13*  
>Felicity wakes from a dream.<br>She is on her couch and she looks over and see that her phone is lit up.  
>2 missed calls, a number of text messages.<br>She gives in to the temptation and listens to the one voicemail that was left.  
>"Hey, Felicity, it's Ray. I don't know what's going on but I hope you're ok and if you need some time off that's fine. I was just wondering if you were ok if you would like to go to a benefit breakfast tomorrow morning with me, in the Glades? It is for a dear friend of mine, District Attorney-"<br>She hits 7 and deletes the rest of the message, turns over in the couch and tries to go to sleep.  
>*14*<br>Roy took Thea back to his place, exchanging little words in the process.  
>She didn't ask any of the hard questions (how? Where?) yet he knew that would come soon.<br>She laid on his couch, and he took his old red hoody and laid it on her.  
>She turned to face away from her wordlessly.<br>His phone rings, it's Diggle."  
>"Roy, I found her." Referring to Laurel.<br>"I'm on my way."  
>He quietly heads for the door when Thea speaks up, and he stops.<br>"If everything you say is true... And Malcolm is responsible for this... I'll be the one that kills him."  
>*15*<br>Laurel is driving in her car, on the outskirts of the Glades, not far from where Roy is getting on his motorcyle.  
>She is heading to a very specific location, and despite the few months of training, she is shaking slightly.<br>And she is angry.  
>She should of been allowed to kill Merlyn months ago.<br>But Oliver wouldn't allow it.  
>Just then, a headlight appears in her rearview.<br>Doesn't take her long to figure out it is Roy and he is coming up fast behind her.  
>She floors the gas.<br>She nearly sideswipes a telephone pole making a quick turn.  
>Roy doesn't miss a beat.<br>He pulls up next to her and opens the visor of his helmet (he is in plain clothes).  
>"Laurel pull over! Don't make me wreck your car!"<br>"Stay out of this!"  
>"You need to let us handle this."<br>"You failed the last time."  
>"Pull over!"<br>She decides she will ram her car into him, and then catches herself.  
>This isn't who she is.<br>This is something else.  
>She hit the break and the car comes to a stop on the side of the road.<br>Roy stops some yard ahead.  
>Roy: "Where are you going?"<br>Laurel: "Thea told me where her father is staying in the city. I'm going there to get some answers."  
>Roy: "Fine. But I'm going with you. First, we need to make a stop. Get on."<br>*16*  
>Felicity get's up, it takes everything she can to not fall back. But she is thirsty.<br>She heads to the kitchen for water.  
>She notices by her door that the bundle of Oliver's things were carefully lain next to her shoes.<br>Diggle must of left it for her.  
>Or maybe she just doesn't remember bringing it up.<br>Either way she picks up the light hoody that Oliver was wearing before the fight.  
>She takes it with her to the couch and hugs it.<br>She let's some time pass.  
>In silence.<br>Trying to feel some kind of warmth from the garment. Some kind of hint he isn't really gone.  
>She feels something kind of sharp poking in the seam of the left sleeve.<br>She sits up, feeling for it again.  
>"What?"<br>She brings it to the kitchen and grabs a pair of scissors.  
>She starts ripping and she finds: a flashdrive.<br>*17*  
>Roy and Laurel made a quick stop at headquarters.<br>To pick up a helmet for Laurel, and for Roy to get into his uniform.  
>Thea told Laurel where her father was staying in the city.<br>It is a run down private residence, possible abandoned.  
>It is one of maybe a dozen similar homes all across the street from a little league field and series of playgrounds.<br>Aresenal takes the front, while Canary glides quietly to take the back.  
>They both get the feeling this is way too easy, and if Oliver has taught him anything, nothing is easy about Malcolm Merlyn.<br>He steps forward, drawing his bow and aiming an explosive arrow at the front window.  
>He lets it fly and it hits it's target, blowing away a large portion of the window frame.<br>From behind, Canary waits for her que and when she hears the explosion she enters through an already open door that leads to a kitchen.  
>She takes out Canary Call device and lets it squeel.<br>The room is filled with the same paralyzing squeel that filled Thea's apartment.  
>Arsenal, wearing ear plugs, is checking each room but there is no sign of life.<br>Once the squeel ends, he turns to Canary: "Nobody here. Told you-"  
>A devestating explosion rocks from below in the basement, sending flames up the stairway and through the air ducts.<br>They both scramble and lose sight of each other, not knowing if the other is even alive.  
>*18*<br>It is now morning, just after eight.  
>Bright and sunny.<br>Ray Palmer has just arrived at his friend's fundrasier.  
>District Attorney Joe Harvey was actually more than just a friend.<br>He was childhood friends.  
>Harvey is new to the scene, and his personality (not much unlike Ray's) is capturing everyone's attention.<br>There is a line forming just outside, each person waiting to shake Mr. Harvey's hand and then be seated for the breakfast.  
>Something Ray doesn't know about is, there is a man about fourteen places up from him.<br>A young man in rather overpadded clothing.  
>A young man named Jay.<br>Jay is carrying a duffel bag.  
>Palmer instantly realizes something is not right.<br>He looks around and none of the security detail seem to be concerned.  
>Or even notice.<br>"Security!" Palmer shouts, just as Jay reaches out his hand to shake DA Harvey's hand.  
>And suddenly everything goes up in flames.<br>A fireball emits from Jay's body and screams and shouts over the sound of a large explosion.  
>Palmer hits the ground and his head, and everything goes dark.<br>*19*  
>Jay's friend, the one that loaded a dozen of more bricks that became deadly projectiles, answers his ringing phone.<br>"Mr. Brick, the target has been eliminated."  
>Daniel Brickwell, known to his men as "The Brick", smiles and says "good work. May Jay's soul rest in peace."<br>He hands up and heads for his car.  
>*20*<br>The snow is even heavier, and so is the body of Oliver Queen, yet at long last the man carrying him has reached their destination.  
>It is a cave.<br>A deep one, one that doesn't obsorb the wind. It is almost perfect for living in.  
>And noticably warmer.<br>He places Oliver's lifeless body down, and steps back to begin lighting a fire.  
>It is obvious this man has been here, perhaps waiting for this moment, because a fire was all ready to be lit.<br>He lights a fire and it starts filling the cave with warmth and light.  
>The man removes a folded parchment from inside his clothing.<br>He unfolds it and aims it toward the light.  
>We see that it is a map.<br>The man tries brushing the hood out of his eyes, we see the bottom of his chin breifly.  
>It's not enough, the hood keeps falling covering his line of sight.<br>We see the map again and this time we can make out the words "PIT".  
>Fed up, the man grabs the hood and whips it off.<br>It is a man we have seen before.  
>It is Malcolm Merlyn.<br>-END- 


	2. Midnight City

*FLASHBACK*  
><em>Cemetary.<em>  
><em>Day.<em>  
><em>The world is a fragile and complicated thing.<em>  
><em>It can be taken from us in an instant, without warning. <em>  
><em>One day you can be enjoying the little things in life like a fresh baked cookie, or a hug from a loved one.<em>  
><em>Or as a child: Christmas day when you wake up knowing that the day you have been waiting for, for weeks, is finally here and you charge downstairs where your family is waiting for you with open arms.<em>  
><em>The next day, it can be shattered.<em>  
><em>Light into darkness.<em>  
><em>Your house can burn down and all the presents with it. <em>  
><em>A family member gets sick and you watch them waste away.<em>  
><em>When you find yourself in a time of darkness, you almost think the bright happy days and warm memories are nothing but a figment of the imagination. It is a as if you are found stranded deep within a well, or a pit, with no way out.<em>  
><em>A feeling of deep dispare is like an opressive, heavy weight.<em>  
><em>It is that weight that hangs heavy on Laurel Lance as she stands in front of her sister, Sara's, freshly dug grave.<em>  
><em>It is days after Sara is laid to rest, having been lost at sea on The Queen's Gambit.<em>  
><em>Laurel has no more tears left to cry, she is numb.<em>  
><em>Here is a young woman that lost her baby sister, as well as the love of her life (the man who was sleeping with her baby sister).<em>  
><em>The emotions too thick and confusing.<em>  
><em>Hatred at the world.<em>  
><em>Hatred at self.<em>  
><em>Hatred at Oliver.<em>  
><em>Hatred at Sara.<em>  
><em>Dispair that she will never see either one of them again.<em>  
><em>On this day, Laurel decides she will speak to her sister. On her grave.<em>  
><em>Sure it is probably silly. Sara can't hear her. <em>  
><em>But it is for herself. It is for the sake of closure.<em>  
><em>Gazing down at the ground, she quietly begins.<em>  
><em>"Sara. How can you be so stupid? How can you do this to me? To mom? Dad?"<em>  
><em>She steps slowly forward, moving her purse from the side to the front.<em>  
><em>She has brought something.<em>  
><em>"I loved Oliver. He was going to be my one and only. Forever. You were supposed to be the sweet sister-in-law."<em>  
><em>She feels a little sick, thinking of how Oliver always said he saw Sara as his little sister.<em>  
><em>"Sara, how could you sneak behind my back? I thought you loved me. I have always been there for you, and you repay me by taking Oliver...<em>  
><em>"What did I ever do to you?"<em>  
><em>A tear afterall, rolls down her cheek.<em>  
><em>"I forgive you, Sara."<em>  
><em>She opens her purse and pulls our a single flower she purchased. It is wrapped in plastic. <em>  
><em>It is a Cherokee Rose.<em>  
><em>She bends to lay it at the foot of Sara's gravestone.<em>  
><em>As she stands again, she wipes the tear.<em>  
><em>"I forgive you. But I will never forget what you did. I love you. But I hate what you became. You became a cheater, a liar..."<em>  
><em>She holds back, she wants to say "Slut".<em>  
><em>"You taught me through this how to be a better woman. Because I will never strive to be like you. I will never be what you were!"<em>  
><em>*NOW*<em>  
><em>Laurel's eyes pop open, she gaspes.<em>  
><em>She doesn't remember where she is, but she is wearing Sara's mask and clothes.<em>  
><em>Canary suddenly remember's where she is.<em>  
><em>Heat all around her reminds her where she is and what has happened.<em>  
><em>She stands up, dizzy but solid.<em>  
><em>"Roy?" She shouts.<em>  
><em>Nothing.<em>  
><em>All around her is smoke and dust. <em>  
><em>Heat.<em>  
><em>She reaches in for her phone and pulls it out of her pocket and is amazed to see it is cracked but still working.<em>  
><em>She dials John Diggle.<em>  
><em>He answers and she says, "We are at 1485 West Allen Street. There has been an explosion you need to come get us."<em>  
><em>"Us?"<em>  
><em>"Roy and I! But I can't find him. Hurry!"<em>  
><em>She hangs up and keeps calling out his name.<em>  
><em>Then she hears a groan not far from her to her left.<em>  
><em>She runs toward the sound and sees a crumpled figure in a red hood.<em>  
><em>Arsenal. <em>  
><em>He is knocked out but coming to.<em>  
><em>She sees that he is ok. <em>  
><em>No.<em>  
><em>His right warm is pinned, crushed, under a slab of concrete.<em> 

-ARROW-

The morning sun streams through the closed blinds of Felicity Smoak's home.  
>She has a fresh cup of coffee by her side and she has her laptop open and is hitting the keys rapidly.<br>She has a newfound energy.  
>While cuddling with the last garments warn by Oliver Queen before his death, she found he (or someone) had sown a small flashdrive into the seam.<br>This could be no coinsidence.  
>Someone (and she suspected Oliver) wanted her to find something.<br>But what?  
>Something is wrong though.<br>Why would Oliver plant something so hard to crack?  
>She has been trying, without any luck, to access the information on the drive.<br>She sighs and grabs the TV remote and pops it on to Local 52.  
>The morning news is overwhelmed with reports of a suicide bomber.<br>A suicide bomber who has taken the life of promising District Attorney Joe Harvey.  
>News Channel 52 estimate that along with the DA, 5 more are dead and a dozen injured.<br>Felicity realized this was the breakfast event Ray Palmer invited her to.  
>She frantically grabs her phone and dials him.<br>It goes straight to voicemail.

-2-

He sees smoke, he hears sirens, everything is a daze.  
>Someone is grabbing him.<br>Through the blurry chaos he sees it is a Starling City Fire Department.  
>"Hey man you ok?"<br>His ears were ringing, he couldn't figure out what the fireman was saying.  
>Ray Palmer snapped to his sences.<br>Blood flowing from his temples he tries to stand.  
>"Joe!"<br>Palmer charges forward but he trips, more on his own feet due to the hit to the head he took.  
>The fireman grabs him, saying "you can't go through those doors it's a crime scene."<br>Palmer knows all too well that his lifelong friend didn't make it.  
>He falls to his knees...<br>He screams in anger...  
>He see's her again:<br>*FLASHBACK*  
><em>A better time.<em>  
><em>A brighter time.<em>  
><em>Ray Palmer and his fiance, Anna Curry, have just enjoyed a night out at their favorite restaurent.<em>  
><em>It was the same restaurent he took her to and proposed just three months back.<em>  
><em>He sqeezes her hand, slowing her down. <em>  
><em>She was getting ahead of him.<em>  
><em>Anna was, to Ray, the most breathaking thing he ever set eyes on.<em>  
><em>She was blonde, with sharp blue eyes.<em>  
><em>Her hair reached her shoulders and went no further. <em>  
><em>She had one pink streak through the center of her hair, something he laughed at when he first saw (and when she gave him a deadly look, he coughed to cover).<em>  
><em>That night, they were too into each other's company that they failed to see their news alerts on their smartphones.<em>  
><em>The alerts that said when and where to evacuate to.<em>  
><em>Dozens of convicts were on the loose, convicts that were deliberately set lose and high off of a drug known as Mirukuru that turned them into maniacal super human weapons.<em>  
><em>Ray caught up with Anna and steered her toward a path less walked.<em>  
><em>On the side of the Restaurant. <em>  
><em>He had set up with his limo driver, Ronnie, to meet behind the building, and was leading Anna there.<em>  
><em>What he didn't know, was that Ronnie was dead, and the limo was upside down and smoking.<em>  
><em>Ray draws Anna close and now they are walking at the same pace. He draws her in and kisses her cheek.<em>  
><em>She giggles.<em>  
><em>A big man in an mask steps out of the shadows. One side Orange. The other side Black. <em>  
><em>Ray puts his hand in front of Anna, and says "whoa hey wait."<em>  
><em>The man in OrangeBlack stops and locks onto them._  
><em>He flexes his hand.<em>  
><em>Just ahead, another Mirukuru soldier steps forward and grabs a woman with long red hair. She was running in Ray and Anna's direction.<em>  
><em>The woman with red hair is grabbed by the neck and lifted up.<em>  
><em>This woman with the red hair we remember as Carrie Cutter, or, the deranged "Cupid."<em>  
><em>At the same time, Ray tries to direct Anna behind him, but the Mirukuru solider in front of them smashes his jaw and Ray falls to the side.<em>  
><em>Helplessly, he screams.<em>  
><em>Ahead, the Starling City Vigilante, also known as "The Arrow", comes out of nowhere and shoots an arrow into the body of the Mirukuru soldier that had Carrie Cutter by the neck.<em>  
><em>As the Mirukuru cure courses through that soldier's body, he drops Carrie to the ground and she is now safe.<em>  
><em>Ray, witnessing the whole thing, screams out "HELP!"<em>  
><em>But The Arrow doesn't hear, and he jumps into a black van and drives off.<em>  
><em>Meanwhile: Anna is grabbed by the neck and lifted off her feet.<em>  
><em>Palmer lunges forward but collapses.<em>  
><em>Anna is being choked by the Mirukuru solider, and Ray can see all the life being drained out of her.<em>  
><em>He can't move, he is paralyzed by fear and the pain of a broken jaw.<em>  
><em>When the last breath comes from her, Anna is left to drop to the road and the soldier pays no mind to Palmer as he continues forward.<em>  
><em>Anna Cury, the love of Ray Palmer's life... Is gone forever.<em>

-3-

Diggle parks the van behind a dumpter, the sun now bright in the sky.  
>Canary jumps out and opens the back door.<br>Arsenal is laying unconsciencious on the van floor.  
>"Are you sure this is the right place?" Diggle asks, as he begins to carefully lift Arsenal and attempt (barely succeeding) to get him over his shoulder.<br>"Yes. This is exactly where Ted told me to take him."  
>Ted Grant, AKA Wildcat. Her trainer.<br>Ted still has no idea that Laurel has become what she has become, but he nonetheless didn't ask her any questions when she asked him if she needed to take someone whose identity needed protecting for medical assistance, where could she take them?  
>Canary runs to the door, which looks like any old backdoor to a greasy restaurant.<br>She saw a camera mounted above but there was no sign that it was active as the wires seemed to be frayed.  
>She backed up in any case, to capture her masked face.<br>Diggle now stood (stumbled) behind her with Arsenal over his shoulder. He had given him a strong sedative shortly after prying the slab off his arm.  
>Canary begins pounding on the door now, but a buzzing gets her attention and from a seemingly invisible speaker to her right a man's voice says, "who are you?"<br>"We need help. My friend, he is injured. I was sent here by Wildcat. He says you can help."  
>There was a click and the door opened (automated).<br>"Follow the stairs all the way up. But I can't gaurentee I can help you."  
>It was a struggle but they got Arsenal to the top, and a man opened the door.<br>The man is of average height, maybe late thirties, slightly curly salt and pepper hair suggesting maybe even a few years older.  
>He is wearing black t-shirt, blue jeans, and about three days worth of stubble.<br>And, oddly enough since it is dark inside the room, and sharp pair of dark sunglasses.  
>Canary figures he has had a rough night out. She hopes this doctor can help.<br>"Are you a doctor?" Diggle asks.  
>"Yes. I just don't practice anymore."<br>"Can you help my friend?" Canary asks.  
>At this point she realizes that the man isn't wearing sunglasses. They are rounded lenses, and the doctor is slowly turning the lenses as if adjusting binaculars.<br>"What is wrong with him?"  
>Diggle: "His right arm was crushed under a large concrete slab."<br>"What is he wearing?" The man asks.  
>"Uh?"<br>"What was he wearing when his arm was crushed? Any kind of padding or?"  
>"No, just what you see here."<br>"Alright, bring him this way."  
>Diggle follows into a side room where there is your traditional doctors office. The light remain off.<br>The man motions Diggle to lay Arsenal in the chair. He does so, careful not to hit the arm.  
>"Wildcat sent you? Does that mean you and this injured man are vigilanties?"<br>"Um, yeah you can say that."  
>"Is he The Arrow?"<br>"No. He works with The Arrow."  
>"The Red Hood?"<br>"We call him Arsenal."  
>"I'll help you. Most likely I can set the bones, put him in a cast. You'll want to bring him to a regular doctor to be sure nothing serious happens. I'm not sure why you didn't just bring him to the Emergency Room."<br>"Dressed like this? I needed to get him somewhere fast..."  
>It's true, she could of cut him out of the uniform and brought him to the ER. Yet, in her panic, she remembered Ted mentioning a great doctor he would go to for care off the radar whenever he would be injured as Wildcat, the vigilante.<br>"It's alright. He is obviously heavily sedated. Give me some time, wait out in the other room. I'll let you know when he is ready to leave."  
>"Are you sure you can handle this?" Canary asks.<br>"I can stablize and set the arm, no promises after."  
>"What's the worse that can happen?"<br>"He loses it."  
>Canary and Diggle share a worried glance.<p>

-4-

Felicity is in her car and she is heading over to her office at Palmer Technologies.  
>She hopes to find her boss there, maybe absenmindedly forgetting to charge his phone or maybe busy in conference calls. Anything.<br>She just hopes above all he was at that breakfast yet.  
>But she knows he was going to be there.<br>She is going a little faster than she should be and she starts to slow down as the intersection grows closer.  
>Up ahead, the green arrow turns to red and she is standed at the light.<br>So many things flood through her mind.  
>Oliver is dead.<br>Oliver's hidden flash drive.  
>Not being able to crack that drive.<br>Is Ray ok?  
>Honk from behind wakes her to the fact the arrow is green again and she moves forward.<br>Unfortuantly an unexpected roadblocks makes her have to take a detour.  
>She isn't completely familiar with the back roads but enough to make it work.<br>Lost in thought again she starts to remember so many memories of the last couple years.  
>How will Team Arrow continue? Will it? Is the city safe enough to move on?<br>She reaches another intersection and red light, and stops.  
>She wonders how Thea is doing and how she will tell the world that Oliver Queen is dead.<br>And would anyone notice that both The Arrow and Oliver Queen are gone at the same time and figure out the connection?  
>Green again, and she continues.<br>She doesn't notice the vehicle purposely speeding through the red light.  
>It makes direct contact with her passenger side, causing a violent jolt and all the windows break.<br>Everything turns to black.

*FLASHBACK*

_Twelve year old Thea Queen is running as fast as she can in the backyard of the Queen home._  
><em>It is almost like slow motion.<em>  
><em>Her long curly hair caught in the wind.<em>  
><em>She is running from what she knows she will hear.<em>  
><em>She overheard her mother recieve the news.<em>  
><em>The news that everyone was trying to protect her from.<em>  
><em>That her father and brother are gone. Dead. At sea.<em>  
><em>She sees her mother fall to the ground screaming.<em>  
><em>This is what causes her run.<em>  
><em>The Queen estate is large.<em>  
><em>Not just the giant mansion, and long winding driveway.<em>  
><em>Behind the Queen Estate is a lengthy field of tall grass. <em>  
><em>And even beyond the tall grass: a cliff. That drops fifty feet to a riverbed.<em>  
><em>She slows and begins to creep to the edge.<em>  
><em>To the point where she is on the very edge.<em>  
><em>Why not end it now? End the life she knows, in the water, like her dad... like her brother.<em>  
><em>This is the first dance with agony she would ever experience. Why not make it the last?<em>  
><em>A sound catches her attention behind her.<em>  
><em>It sounds like a zap of electricity.<em>  
><em>She catches herself and gasps.<em>  
><em>She nearly toples over... And now she starts falling forward!<em>  
><em>No...<em>  
><em>Something fast grabs the scruff of her neck.<em>  
><em>It is a red flash of electricity.<em>  
><em>It shoots from her back to a nearby tree and then it is gone.<em>  
><em>Thea begins to cry.<em>  
><em>When she gains enough strength she gets up and walks to the tree.<em>  
><em>Something is sticking out of the trunk.<em>  
><em>It is a single arrow.<em>  
><em>It is green.<em>

-5-

Thea wakes up with a gasp.  
>She brushes her short straight hair to the side, it is drenched in sweat.<br>She looks around and realizes she is in Roy's apartment.  
>And everything comes back to her memory.<br>Ollie is dead.  
>That is what the woman in black said.<br>That is what Roy confirmed.  
>And her father... Malcolm... had something to do with it.<br>As much as she wanted to believe that Malcolm Merlyn loved her, she never had to doubt Oliver's love.  
>He was her big brother. He would do whatever it takes to keep her safe.<br>The woman in black told her that Oliver died in her place.  
>She didn't understand this, because nobody has told her why.<br>Malcolm told her where he would be staying, and she told the woman in black.  
>She betrayed her father.<br>She chose to do this because he kept the truth from her too.  
>Thea gets up and runs to the kitchen sink and throws water on her face.<br>She decides that she will do whatever it takes to make this right.

-6-

The doctor opens the door.  
>Diggle and Canary stand up (they were sitting on a couch talking about things.)<br>The doctor clicks the left eye lense of his glasses as if adjusting to the light.  
>Diggle notices that the room he comes out of is pitch dark.<br>The doctor says, "I have his arm in a cast. I am confident I set his arm right. Again, you will need to take him to a specialist to make sure everything is ok. I think I have done all I can. He is awake, but groggy."  
>Canary looks at Diggle and nods. Diggle heads into the room to visit Arsenal and closes the door.<br>She says to the doctor: "Doctor Cross, what can I do to repay you?"  
>Dr. Pieter Cross removes his glasses.<br>Canary gasps.  
>Behind those glasses there are two eyes, without pupils. Just whites. Just smooth flesh.<br>"You owe me nothing. Perhaps though, I owe you."

-7-

Diggles settles in a chair next to Roy.  
>Roy's uniform is in pieces on the ground next to him.<br>"You doing ok, Roy?"  
>Roy moves his head slowly side to side, looking from his arm to Diggle.<br>"I will be okay eventually. How are you?"  
>"Me? I'm hanging in there."<br>"Is my arm okay?"  
>"It will be eventually."<br>Roy closes his eyes and smashes the back of his head against the back of the chair in frustration.  
>"I failed."<br>Diggle: "What?"  
>"I failed Oliver. I failed this city."<br>"How do you figure?"  
>"Look at me!"<br>Diggle is silent.  
>Roy sighs, and looks at the floor as his Arsenal uniform is in shreds.<br>"Diggle... He promised..."  
>Diggle looks up, confused.<br>"Promised what?"  
>"Oliver promised he wouldn't abandon me... But he did."<br>"Roy... Hey... It's okay. Oliver did what was right. We have to be strong enough to... To carry on what he started."  
>"Can we?"<br>"Yes. We have to."

-8-

Ray Palmer is laying in a hospital bed.  
>He has a concussion, and is very dehydrated.<br>Other than that, he is fine.  
>And this drives him crazy.<br>"When can I go home?"  
>The nurse says, "maybe the day after tomorrow. Just behave okay?"<br>He tries calling Felicity with the phone at his side.  
>No answer.<p>

-9-

Dr. Cross replaces the glasses.  
>Canary tries to figure out what to say.<br>"What do you owe me?" She musters.  
>"An explanation."<br>"Can you see?"  
>"With these special glasses, I can. Without them? I'm completely blind. I can only see certain things too, not full vision."<br>"I don't understand. Ted said you were a doctor."  
>"Keyword: were. I keep to myself mostly. There isn't much demand for blind doctors."<br>"But those glasses you wear?"  
>"A prototype. I got from a connetgion at STAR Labs. It doesn't matter. What I can tell you is that Ted, or Wildcat, came to me while he was protecting the Glades. And what he did inspired me to stay in the Glades and provide medical attention to the outcasts, so to speak. You need a doctor, I'm your man. I feel very fortuant and want to give back to my city."<br>Canary nods a thank you, as Diggle opens the door and slowly guides Arsenal out to the living room.

-10-

"Wake up!"  
>Felicity feels a slap on the side of the head and blinding light as the hood that was placed over her head is lifted and a bright light is shining in her face.<br>She has a cut on her forehead.  
>She figures out she is tied to a chair.<br>"Of course I am," she says.  
>She can't see who is speaking to her, but it is a man. He seems to have an accent, which she can't place.<br>Russian? Maybe.  
>"Are you ready to work for me now?" The voice asks.<br>"I don't know who you are. Please just let me go."  
>The man laughs, "I know you will work for me. I know exactly who you are. You are going to help me."<br>"Help you do what?"  
>"You're going to bring me The Arrow. Or else many will begin to die."<br>She feels a sudden pain in her arm and realizes he has injected a needle into her. She feels fire course through her arm and begins to scream.

-11-

Thea was stopped by a fireman at the end of the street where she understood her father to be. She rolls down her window and informs him where she is trying to go.  
>"I'm sorry miss, but that is where the explosion happened."<br>"Oh my God... was anyone there?"  
>"I can gladly say there wasn't. Some kind of propane explosion probably. It was an abandoned home. Why would you be going there?"<br>She realized at this moment that she had been played.  
>"Wrong address."<br>She rolls her window up and starts to turn around.  
>On a whim she decides to call Roy, but his phone goes straight to voicemail.<br>She decides to head to Verdant, maybe some work will help her mind heal.

-12-

Back at Team Arrow headquarters, Canary, DIggle and Roy settled in to talk about what to do next.  
>Roy, his arm in a sling and heavy on the side of sedation watches are Canary removes her mask and hangs her head.<br>Diggle is eyeing both of them carefully, thinking that this is a pretty sad looking group.  
>Laurel breaks the silence: "We have to find Malcolm Merlyn."<br>"For what? Killing him won't bring back Sara or Oliver!"  
>"I know that! He can't be allowed to walk free-"<br>"Laurel..." Roy groans.  
>"What?"<br>"It's not enough. Going after Malcolm. Someone always comes along worse than the other."  
>"One of us should check on Felicity. I'll drive you home, Roy."<br>Leaving Laurel to Felicity duty.

-13-

Thea is the first one to arrive at club Verdant. Nobody is expecting her, but she slips in the back door and goes to her mailbox.  
>She skims through the mail and finds an unmarked envelope.<br>Weird.  
>She opens it and finds a metal key with a note.<br>Printed out is the word "The door you always can't open."  
>She thinks for a moment... And she remembers the one door she can never open.<br>This is really weird, she thinks.

*FLASHBACK*

_10 years ago_

_We see a man laying helplessly in a hospital bed._  
><em>Wrapped around his face is heavy gauze.<em>  
><em>At the foot of the bed we see a clipboard with the name "Pieter Cross" printed on it.<em>  
><em>There was a terrible accident hours ago. <em>  
><em>One in which left a good honorable man without sight. <em>  
><em>Standing outside the hospital room door is another Doctor. <em>  
><em>Not the kind that helps others be well.<em>  
><em>This other doctor looks in the through the window, and we can't see his face. It is in shadow.<em>  
><em>"You can go in, he is a little groggy but he should be able to hear you," says a nurse. <em>  
><em>The doctor enters the room. <em>  
><em>As he walks toward Pieter's bed, we still can't see his face.<em>  
><em>It is dark. All sorts of beeps and monitors cut through the air.<em>  
><em>Pieter knows someone is in the room with him, and he slowly says, "Who is here?"<em>  
><em>"Dr. Cross? You don't know me, but I know all about you. I know what you did, and how you lost your sight. I'm here to assure you that now you will serve a greater purpose to humanity. When the time is right. My name? Harrison Wells."<em>

It is now.  
>Pieter is standing facing a window.<br>To his right is a birdcage. The cage belongs to an owl named Hooty.  
>Cross is remembering.<br>"It is only a matter of time, Hooty, before my time comes. This city needs me. It needs us. The Midnight hour is near..."

-14-

Thea places the key in the lock and it fits perfectly.  
>She turns the key and the door opens to a flight of dusty chairs.<br>For the first time since the news of her brother's death, she finally feels a glimmer of excitement. Maybe it is just distraction.  
>She decends the stairs and while doing so she removes her phone and turns on the flashlight feature.<br>It seems to be a medium sized storage room.  
>Alot of old boxes and wood pieces.<br>Old glasses, old shot glasses, usual bar related things...  
>Yet, ahead, something else.<br>She draws near and aims her light.  
>It is a mannaquin.<br>The mannaquin is wearing a familar outfit.  
>It is a green hood.<br>Next to it in a case is an old beat up bow.  
>And a set of arrows.<p>

-15-

We can see from high above a man bundled in heavy dark clothes.  
>Behind him, he is pulling a sled.<br>On the sled is a body.  
>From behind we see countless footsteps.<br>Ahead there was what appears to be a drop off.  
>A cliff?<br>Some kind of edge.  
>It is glowing a bright green like the northern lights.<br>It is Malcolm Merlyn pulling Oliver Queen.  
>They are near the end of their journey.<p>

-END- 


	3. Uprising

A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters.  
>-1-<br>Amanda Waller, head of A.R.G.U.S., sits in one of her spare offices.  
>She is reading a file in a manilla folder.<br>She is alone, and is wearing a slight smile on her face.  
>The door opens.<br>"Oh. Miss Waller," a young woman says as the door opens.  
>"Can I help you?"<br>"Oh, miss Waller, I'm sorry I... I had heard you took a personal day today."  
>Waller puts the file down and eyes the young woman.<br>"What are you doing in here?"  
>"I'm actually on the cleaning crew, just here to change the trash," she laughs nervously.<br>"Go ahead."  
>The cleaning woman is obviously nervous to be around Waller, but she is also surprised to see the woman in this particular office. She seemed very out of character.<br>And Waller is eying her in a very strange way.  
>Almost in a creepy way.<br>"Know what?" Waller said, putting the folder down.  
>"Close the door. I may have a good use for you."<p>

-2-

"So you're letting me go I hope?"  
>Ray Palmer asked as he laid in his hospital bed and one of his doctors enters the room.<br>"Yes," the doctor said as he shut the door.  
>"Yes, you're all clear. Everything looks good and you won't have any lasting effects from the concussion."<br>"I wish my friend had the same prognosis."  
>"Mr. Harvey?"<br>"Yes."  
>"I'm sorry to hear the news. Such a shame. He had a promising future in Starling."<br>"Too many out there are finding the same fate. It needs to end."  
>"I agree."<br>"Doctor, any word in the news on who did the bombing?"  
>"Not that I've seen."<br>"He needs to be brought to justice."  
>The doctor nodded, added, "Maybe the Arrow will find him."<br>Palmer didn't have the same love and respect for the vigilante as others have grown to have.  
>Arrow never seemed to be at the right place for him anyway.<br>"Mr. Palmer, do you have anyone to discharge you?"  
>"No. Nobody."<p>

-3-

*Flashback*

_Clark Singleton is having a routine night._  
><em>He was thankful for those kind of nights.<em>  
><em>Train running on time.<em>  
><em>Passengers behaving.<em>  
><em>He has been a train conductor for two decades and this subway route became one of his favorites because it usually did run smoothly.<em>  
><em>Except maybe the night of The Undertaking.<em>  
><em>He reaches over and grabs his coffee, thinking of nothing in particular. <em>  
><em>Then he sees something odd up ahead as he takes a sip.<em>  
><em>He snaps to attention and quickly puts his coffee down.<em>  
><em>It spills and rolls on the floor to his right.<em>  
><em>Ahead, on the tracks, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there are two people standing on the tracks.<em>  
><em>One appears to be kneeling.<em>  
><em>He tries slamming the breaks but he already knows it will be too late.<em>  
><em>Ahead on the track, the figure that is kneeling is actually handcuffed to the rails.<em>  
><em>It is The Arrow, and he is pleading with Cupid to come to her senses. <em>  
><em>Finally giving up he dislocates his thumb to slip out of the cuffs and grabs Cupid just in time to avoid the collision.<em>  
><em>What we didn't know from before is, while they were tumbling away from the tracks she manages to slip her hand under his head and grab his hair. <em>  
><em>She can't bring the hood down.<em>  
><em>Arrow feels a sharp burning pain where Cupid detaches a clump of his hair...<em>  
><em>Flashforward-<em>  
><em>Carrie Cutter, Cupid, now in custody of A.R.G.U.S. as part of the Suicide Squad, was given one possession to bring to her cell.<em>  
><em>From a pocket in her yellow jumpsuit she brings out a small vial with a cork top.<em>  
><em>Inside are strands of her beloved's hair.<em>  
><em>She smiles and holds it close to her heart.<em>

-ARROW-

-4-

Laurel pulls in front of the building Felicity lives in.  
>It is late morning, bright and sunny.<br>Laurel climbs the stairs and when she gets to Felicity's door she gives three hard knocks.  
>Waits.<br>Nothing.  
>Knocks again.<br>Nothing.  
>"Felicity? It's Laurel, are you there?"<br>Just for kicks she tries the knob. It turns.  
>She opens it just a crack and again calls her name.<br>The pile of broken glass catches her attention and gives her the insentive to enter the apartment fully.  
>It is ransacked.<p>

-5-

Carrie Cutter is awakened from a nap by her cell door opening.  
>"You have a visiter," the male guard says sarcastically as he grabs her (a little too rough) by the arm.<br>She has the training to take him down, he made the mistake of leaving his leftside volnerable to an attack but she knew that would get her nowhere in a high security facility that she was in.  
>She wasn't taken to the usual visitors room (not that she ever got visitors) so this suggested to her it was an inside meeting.<br>She hoped maybe Waller was ready to use her in some mission, although she heard that that usually included a bomb for a necklace.  
>But she hoped she could somehow, someway, sneak away to see the love of her life.<br>The gaurd opened the door to a conference room.  
>It was empty except for a long table with many chairs and seated at the head of the table was Amanda Waller.<br>"So, this is a mission," Carrie said with a smile.  
>"Not what you're thinking though. Have a seat."<br>Carrie sat in the seat on the far end of the table, and Waller got up, grabbing the folder she had next to her and walker toward Carrie.  
>"Ms. Waller, I have to admit, I'm a little confused."<br>"Why?"  
>"Well, you have me in here with no handcuffs or shackles. We are in a room without cameras or guards."<br>"True. Yet I have my reasons. I'm the director around here afterall, I can do what I want."  
>She hands Carrie the folder.<br>"Take a look at what is in here, and you will know why I have you here, and what role you will play in what is about to take place."  
>"What is going to take place?" She asks as she takes the folder and opens it.<br>"An uprising."  
>Carrie's eyes widen a little, a look of glee seems to fill her face slightly. She looks at Waller, who has a knowing look on her face.<br>She hands the folder back to Waller and stands, and reaches into the pocket of her jumpsuit.  
>She pulls out the vial, the one thing she was allowed to bring in.<br>"Yes, I'll be taking that now. Funny how your little obsession turned out to be the one ingrediant needed to brew the perfect storm."  
>Waller reaches out her hand, but Carrie hesitates.<br>"Ms. Cutter, is something wrong?"  
>"It's just that... I'll miss this."<br>"Oh sweetheart, you'll get the real thing if you cooperate."  
>The thought of seeing him again was the one thing that allowed her to hand over the vial.<p>

-6-

Diggle has now joined Laurel as the look at the apartment and the way it was left.  
>Couch cushions thrown and ripped into with a knife.<br>Clothes out of drawers.  
>Cabinets left open with everything in it thrown all over.<br>TV on the floor.  
>Diggle, "You know, this is the second time this week I find myself in this situation."<br>"Do we assume someone took her?"  
>"I don't know. Her car isn't here. Maybe this happened while she was gone."<br>"That's what I thought too, her car wasn't here. I almost didn't come up."  
>"And the door was unlocked not broken into?"<br>Laurel shakes her head yes.  
>"We need to find her, fast."<br>"How is Roy?" Laurel asked, more to try and bring some normalcy to what was going on here.  
>"I think he will be ok, but he won't be suiting up anytime soon."<br>Laurel notices a familar bundle of clothes.  
>The ones she hand delivered. Oliver's.<br>Looking around more she finds Oliver's hoody that was missing from that pile and that there was a split in the hood with a pair of scissors next to it.  
>Her ever growing detective skills told her this was something interesting.<br>"John, look."  
>Diggle looks it over, doesn't really see anything special.<br>His phone rings.  
>"Roy? Yeah I'm with Laurel. Something is up at Felicity's."<p>

-7- 

Amanda Waller fingers the vial she took from Cupid as she speaks on her cell.  
>She is sitting at her desk, door closed and locked, computer fired up and on standby.<br>What she doesn't know is that people around the office are feeling a little uneasy about her.  
>She says into the phone, "got it. I'll be in touch."<br>She plugs in a flashdrive into the computer and hits "recieve" and waits for the progress bar it. load.  
>People around the office have had several odd incounters with Amanda Waller. Some were beginning to wonder if she was beginning to have a breakdown.<br>She had said she was feeling ill yesterday.  
>Bing.<br>She takes the flashdrive out and shuts the computer down.  
>She stands and heads for the restroom in her office and steps in.<br>Moments later, out steps the cleaning lady from earlier who interuppted. Her name is Jen, and she is smoothing the sleeves of her shirt.  
>She doesn't seem to have noticed Waller was in the room with her, or didn't care... Or was following orders...<br>Jen walks out into the lobby and heads for a janitors closet.  
>Business as usual.<br>She grabs her cart of cleaning supplies and heads for the elevator.

-8-

There is a knock on the door.  
>Roy is groggy, from the pain meds, but he manages to get up.<br>He is wearing a tank top, with his right arm in a sling.  
>He opens the door and it is Thea.<br>"Where have you been?"  
>"You don't get to talk to me like... Whoa, what happened to you arm?"<br>"I had an accident."  
>She pushes through, he shuts the door.<br>"An accident? Gee... Like a motorcycle accident? Like the one my brother kept always getting in? How many accidents are you going to get in before you start being real with yourself?"  
>"What are you talking about, Thea?"<br>"I know who you are. I've always known. You're the Red one. The Red Hood."  
>"Don't be stupid, Thea."<br>"Don't lie to me, Roy!"  
>He's a little dizzy from the meds, but he takes a few steps back and leans on the counter.<br>He gives her a look saying, "go on."  
>"When I first met you, remember, you stole my purse? You were wearing that gross red hoody. And you never stopped wearing it while you took me all over the city looking for The Arrow."<br>She actually breaks a smile here, thinking how much of a fanboy he was.  
>He smiles a little too, looks away.<br>"And remember when I left... I left because I knew you were working for The Arrow... And do you think I'm stupid? Fast forward and all of a sudden the Arrow has a red hooded sidekick?"  
>He always figured she probably knew.<br>It wouldn't be hard to put two and two together.  
>"Arsenal," he mumbles.<br>"What?"  
>"It's not Red Hood, it's Arsenal."<br>She realizes what he is saying and looks away in thought.  
>She nods.<br>"Aresenal. Okay. Know what else I figured out?"  
>He shakes his head no.<br>"I figured out who Arrow is... Was..." she breaks down, sobbing.  
>Roy, stunned that she somehow figured out, doesn't know what to do or say here.<br>She puts face in her hands.  
>He moves forward and with his left hand takes her hand away and then he draws he close and their lips meet.<p>

-9-

Ray Palmer does the one thing that will make him feel better.  
>He suits up and heads to the office.<br>By now its late afternoon.  
>He has been thinking alot about the friend he lost.<br>Yet one thing has been top and center on his mind: Felicity.  
>Once he got home he found his alternate phone charging by his bedside (though long since fully charged) and tried Felicity.<br>It of course went straight to voicemail.  
>He knew she was upset. She had said she lost a dear friend.<br>He didn't know who that was, but now having lost a dear friend of his own, he felt he could help her. Or maybe they could help each other grieve.  
>He for sure just needed a friend to talk to and at this time he is realizing how lonely he has been since moving to Starling City.<br>She isn't at her desk. No big surprise there.  
>He walks into his office and checks his email, sitting down at his computer.<br>To his pleasure, the one email he has been waiting for for a long time.  
>From: Lucius Fox.<p>

-10-

Laurel and Diggle arrive back at Team Arrow headquarters in the Glades.  
>On the drive over, Diggle gets the idea that maybe he can somehow use Felicity's computer to track her movements, since he did notice a heavy traffic camera presence outside her apartment.<br>He knew though this would be a big understaking.  
>Something catches Laurel's eye as he walks past her to the computer.<br>In one of the empty cabinets, The Canary suit is on display.  
>"How did you get that?"<br>"That's an extra. Obviously not the one you have. But I felt you deserved a place here."  
>She smiled, and said, "Thank you... Hey, what about that empty one?"<br>"Oh... That's for a friend of Oliver's."  
>"I hope you know, that while my number one priority is to bring my sister's true killer to justice... I haven't forgotten Oliver."<br>"I know."  
>"I somehow think that the one is connected to the other. Malcolm Merlyn is to blame for my sister's death, and Oliver's death came in order to protect his sister... If you ask me, there's no better connection. I am honored to be part of this team, and I will do whatever I can to earn my place."<p>

-11-

Daniel Brickwell parked his van on the corner.  
>Turns off the engine.<br>Sits.  
>He is replaying the moments that he watched from afar as his bomber, his suicide bomber, blew himself up and killed the hope that was coming to the Glades.<br>The first hope since Sabastion Blood...  
>Blood proved a failure.<br>But Brickwell, AKA "The Brick", would one day be the true hope the Glades needed.  
>He believed that with all his heart.<br>Now though, something needed to be done.  
>It was going to be hard for a few days, but it would all be worth it.<br>He runs his hand through his buzz cut dark hair and takes a deep breath.  
>Getting out of the van, he begins to walk toward Starling City Police Department headquarters.<br>He is wearing a sharp black suit with a black tie.  
>As he climbs the stairs of SCPD, he is thinking of the sacrafice made by the young man who blew himself up to take the life of so many.<br>Here's to you, he thought.  
>As he enters the lobby, people around him take in his presence.<br>A receptionist calls out, "can I help you?"  
>"Yes. My name is Daniel Brickwell, and I'm turning myself in."<br>Everyone stops what they are doing.  
>Brick smiles.<br>"I'm sorry?"  
>"I'm turning myself in. I am the one responsible for the bombing that killed multiple people, including the new District Attorney."<p>

-12-

Jen is now deep within A.R.G.U.S. headquarters.  
>She has one goal in mind: mop, mop, mop.<br>When she notices that she is at a restricted access door, she takes out a special key card.  
>This key card, she aquired at the security desk.<br>There was a very sensitive room, a server room, within A.R.G.U.S. that was off limits.  
>Yet that room had floors.<br>And they needed mopping.  
>So the only way to gain access to this room was to go through security.<br>And Jen had done that every other Thursday for three years.  
>Today would be no different.<br>She swipes the card and the door clicks open.  
>She enters with her mop and bucket, like any other day.<br>Yet, unlike any other day, once she enters and the door shuts behind her she doesn't go immediately to mopping.  
>Instead, she heads for the center where a bank of screens and hard drives await.<br>She pulls something out of her pocket.  
>It is the flashdrive. The one Amanda Waller had.<br>She plugs it in and a prompt comes up on the center monitor.  
>"Upload."<br>She clicks it.  
>A progress bar begins, and she smiles, and waits.<p>

-13-

"He never wanted you to know."  
>Roy said to Thea.<br>They are now sitting side by side on his couch.  
>"I just want to understand," she says.<br>"I can't give you all the answers, because I don't know all the answers. But you're right. Your brother was The Arrow. You should be proud of him."  
>"I am. It's just that... I don't understand some things."<br>"Like?"  
>"Like the fact that one of my last incounters with Oliver, was as The Arrow. And... I... fought him."<br>"Listen, Oliver often became two different people. Oliver Queen, and The Arrow. He always had a reason for being one or the other."  
>"I kind of get that, yet at the same time he should of never done that to me."<br>"You seemed very set on being Thea Merlyn, though."  
>"Don't even try that with me, Roy. If I had any idea that Malcolm would hurt my brother I would of fought back... Hey, do you know why Oliver died? Was it fighting as Arrow? And how does my father have anything to do with it?"<br>Roy knew that she might be setting him up there, so he said, "it is complicated."  
>"So enlighten me."<br>He is silent thought.  
>"Roy?"<br>"How did you figure Oliver's role thought?"  
>"I got a letter. That letter lead me in the right direction. I found a room under Verdant."<br>"What? A letter from who?"  
>"I... have no idea."<br>"What did you find down there?"  
>"A uniform and weapons. Which, by the way, I took and brought to a friend. An old friend of ours you could say. And she helped me do something with the uniform. I changed it up a bit," she said with a smile.<p>

-14-

"Yes, Mr. Fox," Ray Palmer says, "I am glad to hear me suit is ready. I will be over to pick up as soon as possible."  
>He hangs up.<br>It was about A.T.O.M., the suit he has been working on for so long.  
>The suit that will allow him to avenge the death of so many. The suit will allow Starling City to have the hero it deserved.<br>One more try... No answer from Felicity.

-15-

Felicity.  
>She wakes up.<br>Not sure where she is, she tries standing.  
>Everything around her is plunged in darkness.<br>It is a blindfold.  
>She feels water at her feet.<br>Whoever has tied her to the chair has placed her feet in a five gallon bucket of water.  
>"Felicity," a scrambled voice says, "tell me how to find The Arrow."<br>"I can't."  
>"You can."<br>"I can't!"  
>"You will. Or feel the pain I-"<br>She interrupts and screams "I can't because he is dead!"  
>Silence.<br>Then bright blinding light.  
>The blind fold is taken off and she is trying to adjust to the light.<br>She sees, for a split second, the outline of a man's face.  
>That accent again. Was it Russian?<br>"Dead?"  
>Or maybe Britished.<br>It is scrambled though.  
>Maybe Austrailian.<br>"The Arrow has died. I can't... I can't tell you how."  
>"You're lying."<br>The blindfold goes back on.  
>Before the blindfold blinds her completely, she realizes that she is not alone as a hostage.<br>In the split second she could see, she noticed another tied to a chair.  
>It seemed to be a woman.<br>Familiar, even.

-16-

Thea is now sitting across from Roy on the couch, she is drinking some kind of beverage out of a mug, her eyes are red from crying.  
>"One of my last encounters with Ollie, I hit him. He broke through my window, as Arrow, and I tried to hurt him. No wonder he didn't fight back very hard... I don't know why he did that. Why he couldn't just be honest with me."<br>"You haven't neccesarily been honest with him though, have you? And he wanted to protect you."  
>"Do you know if my father knows?"<br>"That Oliver was the Arrow?"  
>"Yes."<br>She figured as much, but didn't want to think about it anymore.  
>"I don't know where he is."<br>"Your father?"  
>"Yes. I wasn't lying when I gave you and that mental woman that address. That was where Malcolm told me he would be. He must of known I wouldn't try visiting him if he rigged it to burn. That's how you got hurt, wasn't it?"<br>"The mental woman, as you said... She isn't that bad. She just is a little off the handle right now."  
>"Who is she? Do I know her?"<br>"That isn't for me to say."  
>"Great. More secrets. Is there a name you call her?"<br>"Yea. Canary."

-17-

Jen heads back to Amanda Waller's office.  
>She enters and it is empty, and dark, as she left it.<br>She goes into the restroom and moments later, Waller emerges and walks to the computer.  
>We don't get to see what she sees, but it is clear by her face that she is pleased with what she sees.<br>She pulls the vial out of her pocket, the one she took from Carrie Cutter, and eyes it longingly.  
>Almost time.<p>

-18-

Quintin Lance enters the interrogation room.  
>He was given the lead on Daniel Brickwell once he turned himself in.<br>SCPD did not anticipate something like this, and of course it was suspicious.  
>Quintin takes a seat across the table from Brickwell, reading a file.<br>"Hmm, Daniel Brickwell. Known by many as "The Brick", and you claim you're the one that caused all the mayhem that took the life of DA Harvey?"  
>"Yep."<br>"So why would you turn yourself in?"  
>"Oh, believe me, this isn't me turning myself in. It is simply me moving along the plan."<br>"Okay," Lance says, laughing.  
>"You think this is some kind of joke, officer?"<br>"Nope. Unfortuantly for you, survelience footage puts you at the scene of the attack. So your story fits. I just can't figure out why it is so easy."  
>"You'll know soon enough."<br>Lance reaches down to his left in a bag and pulls out a tablet and begins to take notes, and he says, "You have a pretty full record. Your run of the mill crime boss record. Somehow you have managed to stay just below the radar. What are you doing here in Starling City? All of your prior arrests have come from Central City."  
>"You could say I needed a change of scenery since the incident."<br>"What incident?"  
>"The explosion. The particle accelarater. I don't know how much you realize that incident changes alot of people."<br>"Im familar with how many lives it took, and the rumors that there were some mutations."  
>Brick laughs, "mutations? Is that what you guys are calling it?"<br>"Something like that."  
>"Well you are right to suspect that I have something else going on. See, I plan on walking out of here soon."<br>"Oh? Is that right?"  
>"Yep. Because, see, you know how the Mayor has beautiful little fifteen month old daughter? Well, I know a guy, who knows a guy, who has her right now, and if you don't meet my demands, that little baby will be drained of all the blood in her body. So, you see why I'm so confident?"<br>Quintin's own blood drains from his face.

-19-  
>*FLASHBACK*<br>_Central City_  
><em>Daniel Brickwell.<em>  
><em>He is walking toward his townhouse that he shares with his wife, Lynn, and their four year old daughter, Lucy.<em>  
><em>He is finally trying to turn his life around and make an honest living.<em>  
><em>But maybe it is too late for some.<em>  
><em>Daniel spent much of his life making a dishonest living.<em>  
><em>Pushing drugs like pot, and pain killers.<em>  
><em>Sometimes he gave up pushing drugs and instead pushed women, becoming one of the highest paid pimps in Central City.<em>  
><em>But finally he met an honest woman, a woman who followed God and wanted nothing more than her husband to go to church and be an upstanding man.<em>  
><em>And that is exactly what Daniel fell for.<em>  
><em>No more would he be called The Brick. <em>  
><em>Ironically, her name was Danielle.<em>  
><em>If you asked him, she was the most beautiful woman to grace the planet.<em>  
><em>It was the night of the new particle excelerator's launch at STAR Labs. <em>  
><em>As he entered his home, the explosion happened at the labs.<em>  
><em>The shockwave hit Brickwell's home, and it was absolutely devestating.<em>  
><em>He, his wife, and daughter were all burried by the shockwave.<em>  
><em>Something, though, a bolt of light maybe, seemed to preserve him. <em>  
><em>All the bricks bounced off him, and it was as if his skin was rubber. <em>  
><em>After he survived, and his loved ones did not, he began to hate again. And because of his hate, he decided to go back to a life of crime. <em>  
><em>And he will stop at nothing to bring an uprising to Starling City.<em>

-20-

Ring.  
>An unknown ring tone.<br>Diggle looks away from Felicity's computer.  
>Where is that coming from?<br>To his left.  
>It is the phone that Oliver used to communicate with Quintin Lance.<br>It hasn't rang since Oliver died.  
>Diggle knows that if he answers, the person on the other end shouldn't be able to tell the difference.<br>He decides to pick up.  
>"Hello?"<br>"Long time no talk," it is Quintin Lance.  
>"What can I do for you?"<br>"I have a man here in my custody that claims to have been responsible for the bombing that killed District Attorney Harvey, along with the others around him. But he claims to now have the Mayor's daughter in custody."  
>"Is it true?"<br>"Unfortuantly, yes. I called the mayor and he insisted it wasn't true. But then he called me back a few minutes later in a panic. Somehow, Brickwell paid off the mayor's security detail. He has the little girl in custody. Man, she isn't even two years old yet."  
>Diggle pauses.<br>"Are you following me?" Lance.  
>"I think so."<br>"Well wherever you been the last few days it is time you stepped up. The man I have in custody, says if you don't turn yourself in by sundown, he will have the mayor's daughter killed. He says you have to deliver yourself to the following address:" he gives the address.  
>Hang up.<br>Diggle, in a panic, called the only person he can think of at the moment.

-21-

Carrie Cutter lays in her bed and stares at the cieling.  
>Her pocket is empty.<br>She knows any minute that something will happen.  
>Something will change.<br>And it does.  
>All the lights go out.<br>Darkness.  
>Quiet.<br>Carrie jumps up ready to strike, ready to get out.  
>If she understands the plan right, she should be able to open her cell door and walk out.<br>She tries the door.  
>It opens without trouble.<br>A red glow appears in the hall.  
>It is the generator kicking in.<br>But thanks to the computer virus that is now infecting the facility, all the cells are open and the way is lit by red emergency lights.  
>Carrie begins to run, but is stopped at the end of the hall by another woman in a yellow jumpsuit.<br>She looks deranged.  
>She is the one that they know as Harley.<br>"Oh... Hey... You busting out too?"  
>Harley shakes her head eagerly, "yep! You too?"<br>"I think all of us!"  
>Harley runs her hand through her wild hair and says, "hey! When I get out, I'm going to find my true love! I heard you are too?"<br>"Oh yes!"  
>"What is his name?"<br>"I'm not sure..."  
>"Oh, sorry to hear that. I know exactly who I am looking for. Mister Jay! He is waiting for me just outside these doors, I just know it."<br>Carrie rolls her eyes, "oh please."  
>All around, the cells open and every criminal housed in the A.R.G.U.S. facility are just an open door away from freedom.<br>And they are only a few miles from Starling City.  
>Let the Uprising... Begin.<p>

-22-

Roy answers his ringing phone, "yea?"  
>It is Diggle.<br>Diggle: "We have a big problem."  
>"What is it?" Roy puts him on speaker, feeling Thea deserved to hear.<br>"Oliver's phone rang, it was Lance. He has a man in custody that says he is responsible for the terror attack the other day and that he has the mayor's daughter. The thing is, he is demanding that The Arrow turn himself over by sundown, or the little girl dies."  
>Thea lunges forward and grabs the phone, she says "tell us where to be."<br>Diggle gives them the address of an abandoned wearhouse."  
>Roy: "Thea? What are you doing?"<br>"Making things right. I have a plan, com on."

-23-

Felicity is half asleep, not because she has the ability to rest through all this but because she can't possibly stay awake any more through all this.  
>She is still tied to her chair.<br>She is still blindfolded.  
>But now the blindfold is again lifted.<br>Again, bright light pierces her brain.  
>"Wake up!"<br>She feels a slap.  
>"I am up!"<br>"Well, you'll want to stay awake for what is about to go down," the voice says, the one she can't place. The one that sounds so familiar.  
>They are in a warehouse.<br>Felicity.  
>The other woman hostage, she is kept in the shadows.<br>The hostage taker.  
>And three of his guards.<br>"We are about to recieve some hooded visitors," the mystery man says.  
>Outside the walls of the warehouse, coming to the rescue of Felicity, is the rest of Team Arrow.<p>

-24-

Diggle pulls his van into the shadows, the warehouse in full view ahead, the sun almost set beyond the hills.  
>In the back of the van are two people.<br>One wearing green...  
>One wearing red.<br>"Are you two sure about this?"  
>The one in green raises his left hand and pulls down the hood.<br>It is Roy, he is wearing Oliver's backup uniform.  
>By his side is a smaller figure in red.<br>Arsenal.  
>Only, under the red hood, is Thea Queen.<br>"We are sure," Thea says as she pulls down her hood.  
>The plan: Roy will present himself as if he is The Arrow, and will turn himself in.<br>And Thea will sneak in the background, and she will use her father's deceptive training and will cause a distraction and Diggle will come in and rescue Felicity.  
>If all goes well, then Team Arrow will have the upper hand.<br>"Thea, are you really sure about this?" Diggle asks.  
>"Yes. Don't worry about me... And don't call me Thea, call me: Speedy."<br>All the while, A.R.G.U.S. headquarters is in shambles.  
>Every detainee has broken free.<p>

-25-

Back in the warehouse, Felicity is for the first time being allowed to let her eyes clear, and nobody is sticking her arm with drugs.  
>The mystery man in the shadows behind him says in a deep voice, "Now you will see the beginning of the end for Starling City."<br>He turns her toward the double bay doors ahead just in time to see them explode.  
>When the dust clears, she can make out the shape of an archer.<br>The archer shot an arrow into the door that caused the explosion.  
>It is the one in red.<br>Arsenal... Speedy.  
>"Oh my God!"<br>She shouts, as a figure in a green hood comes forward.  
>It can't be Oliver, right?<br>No, it must be a trick.  
>In a deep, scrambled voice, the figure in green says to the mystery man behind Felicity, "You asked for me, well, I'm here."<br>The Arrow seems to have a dead right arm, Felicity thinks.  
>It just hangs there.<br>What is going on?  
>From behind her, "You think I'm dumb?"<br>Arrow walks forward, in his left hand is his bow.  
>Arsenal seems considerably smaller than Felicity remembers...<br>Finally we see who the man that is holding Felicity is.  
>It is Werner Zytle... The new Count Vertigo, who should be in custody. But someone let him go.<br>The same man that injected Arrow, and caused him to see his worst fear. Himself.  
>"I've seen Arrow," Vertigo says, speaking to the one in Green: "and you are not Arrow."<br>Felicity is confused... Probably from the drugs...  
>Suddenly, the one in Red runs forward and draws (her) bow, aiming at the Count.<br>"Stand down, little girl," Vertigo laughs.  
>From behind Count Vertigo, Thea (who is wearing the Red Hood) see's a dark figure enter through a far away door.<br>She loses focus on her target (The Count) and watches the newly arrived figure.  
>It reminds her of her father.<br>Black hood. Black vest. Black sleeves.  
>Black gloves... Carrying a black bow... With black arrows.<br>Count Vertigo says, "You both are getting in the way."

-26-

Diggle is watching from behind, he is wearing a black ski mask.  
>He tries speaking into his phone which is connected to both Thea under the Arsenal hood, and Roy under the Arrow Hood: "Guys what is going on?"<br>Thea steps back and speaks quietly: "They have Felicity."  
>Diggle isn't surprised that the ones who have Felicity are the same ones that are holding the Mayor's little girl hostage. But why?<p>

-27-

Felicity now sees what everyone else sees.  
>A man in black.<br>With a bow and arrow.  
>The Dark Archer draws a bow and aims (the bow is blinking... Explosive?)<br>Thea steps forward (as Arsenal) and draws her own bow and aims.  
>Roy (as Arrow) steps back, he feels naked without the use of his right hand, yet he tries to look strong.<br>Thea aims and fires and her bow hits the one in Black's as he also fires his explosive bow forward. In midair the two collide with a great explosion.  
>Felicity is knocked to the ground still tied to her chair. She tries and break free with no use.<br>Roy (Arrow) runs forward and tries to smash into the man in black.  
>The man in black dodges and Roy (Arrow) falls to his knees.<br>The man in black kicks Roy in the back and the neck seemingly disabling him.  
>He turns and sees Arsenal (Thea) charging toward him.<br>He takes his bow and smashes her in the side of the skull and she falls to the ground and slides helplessly to the left.  
>Felicity gets up and charges toward the man in black and manages to get her tied hands in front of her.<br>Thea (Arsenal) leaps up and charges and both her and Felicity reach the Man in Black at the same time and hit him from both sides causing him to hit the floor.  
>While this is all happening, Diggle (in ski mask) charges forward and manages to get to one of the hostages. It isn't Felicity but the other one.<br>The other woman.  
>He unties her and takes the blindfold off her.<br>He realizes he recognizes the other woman.  
>It is Amanda Waller.<p>

-28-

Back at A.R.G.U.S. headquarters, something quick happens. The entire facility explodes.

-29-

Felicity throws her arms forward and manages to grab the One if Black's hood.  
>She yanks it down.<br>Thea sees this and also gets up, she reaches behind her and pulls out a sword from the Arsenal uniform.  
>Her own red hood falls down as she swings the sword forward.<br>She stops!  
>She can't believe her eyes when she sees who is under the Black Hood.<br>Her heart stops, she drops the sword, her eyes are wide.  
>We see who is under the Black Hood.<br>It is her brother. It is Oliver Queen...  
>And when he sees her face, he raises his hands, giving up...<br>Felicity can't believe her eyes.  
>Diggle can't believe his eyes.<br>Thea can't believe her eyes.  
>Roy can't believe his eyes.<br>Thea drops down to her knees and drops the sword. She crawls forward and puts her arms around Oliver's neck.  
>They embrace.<p>

*FLASHBACK*

_3 hours ago..._

_Amanda Waller._  
><em>Or who we have all along this episode believed to be Amanda Waller, is sitting alone in her office.<em>  
><em>Now is the time.<em>  
><em>The appointed time.<em>  
><em>She walks into her office restroom.<em>  
><em>It is like any other restroom.<em>  
><em>Big mirrors.<em>  
><em>Amanda runs her hand through her hair and smiles.<em>  
><em>She pulls out the vial of The Arrow's hair that she got from Cupid.<em>  
><em>She places it on the sink and then begins to unbutton her shirt.<em>  
><em>Then her pants.<em>  
><em>She drops her pants to the ground.<em>  
><em>She takes her shirt off and throws it to the side and then starts undoing her bra.<em>  
><em>From behind we see her grab the vial of Arrow's hair and open it.<em>  
><em>She then empties the hair into her mouth and swallows.<em>  
><em>Zoom in on her face... And suddenly... It grows pale...<em>  
><em>And her hair starts to pale.<em>  
><em>And she doubles over and screams.<em>  
><em>And falls to the ground.<em>  
><em>When she stands up we see that it is no longer a she... But a he... Amanda Waller? No... It is now Oliver Queen... He smiles and reaches to his right and grabs a black hood...<em>

-30-

Thousands of miles away, lies the body of the actual Oliver Queen.  
>And standing above that body is Malcolm Merlyn.<br>"Oliver... I'm not sure you can hear me... but what I am about to do is for your own good," Merlyn says.  
>"You will be better off. You will be able to rise above and return for Thea, and more importantly, you will work for me. We will be a team."<br>They are above a great hole, a pit.  
>A green glow radiates from it.<br>Merlyn takes Oliver's body and shoves it in and he falls...  
>And falls...<br>And falls...  
>And falls...<br>But is it real?  
>Suddenly, Oliver Queen is aware of his life.<br>He is aware he has life.  
>He feels.<br>He hears.  
>Was it all a dream?<br>Oliver opens his eyes and suddenly feels his body on a great cold slab.  
>Freezing.<br>He leaps up.  
>He is shirtless.<br>He is freezing.  
>He is in a prison.<br>Bars around him.  
>What?<br>He realizes he isn't alone.  
>Someone else is with him.<br>Merlyn?  
>No...<br>Someone else.  
>His eyes adjust...<br>"Well, well, well," Oliver hears a familar voice.  
>"Oliver Queen... In here... with me?" The voice laughs.<br>Oliver adjusts his eyes to the light.  
>"What?"<br>The voice says, "Hey there kid! How you been? Long time, no see..."  
>The voice matches the face that comes into focus.<br>It is Slade Wilson.  
>And Oliver Queen is locked in Super Max, on the Island of Lian Yu...<br>-END- 


End file.
